Download London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources

A level Schools Concert
November 2014
An Exploration of
Neoclassicism
Teachers’ Resource Pack
Autumn 2014
London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
2
Unauthorised copying of any part of this teachers’ pack is strictly prohibited
The copyright of the project pack text is held by:
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Rachel Leach © 2014
London Philharmonic Orchestra ©2014
Any other copyrights are held by their respective owners.
This pack was produced by:
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Education and Community Department
89 Albert Embankment
London SE1 7TP
Rachel Leach is a composer, workshop leader and presenter, who has composed and
worked for many of the UK’s orchestras and opera companies, including the London
Sinfonietta, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Wigmore Hall, Glyndebourne
Opera, English National Opera, Opera North, and the London Symphony Orchestra. She
studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, at Opera Lab and Dartington.
Recent commissions include ‘Dope Under Thorncombe’ for Trilith Films and ‘In the belly
of a horse’, a children’s opera for English Touring Opera. Rachel’s music has been
recorded by NMC and published by Faber. Her community opera ‘One Day, Two Dawns’
written for ETO recently won the RPS award for best education project 2009.
As well as creative music-making and composition in the classroom, Rachel is proud to be
the lead tutor on the LSO's teacher training scheme for over 8 years she has helped to
train 100 teachers across East London. Rachel also works with Turtle Key Arts and ETO
writing song cycles with people with dementia and Alzheimer's, an initiative which also
trains students from the RCM, and alongside all this, she is increasingly in demand as a
concert presenter. She regularly presents children’s concerts, lunchtime concerts and
pre-concert events for LSO, BBC Proms, RCM & Wigmore Hall.
©Copyright Rachel Leach London 2014
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
Contents
Introduction
4
The London Philharmonic Orchestra
5
Igor Stravinsky
6
Neoclassicism
7
Pulcinella
8
Francis Poulenc
14
Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone
15
Ideas for Creative Work
17
Dates
20
Thanks
21
©Copyright Rachel Leach London 2014
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
Introduction
This pack is designed to help you and your class prepare for the London Philharmonic
Orchestra A level BrightSparks concert at the Royal Festival Hall featuring works from the
Edexcel AS and A2 syllabusses plus a more general exploration of Neoclassical music.
During the concert we wil examine the following works:
Stravinsky - Pulcinella Suite Mvts 1 (Sinfonia), 6 (Gavotta & variations) and 7 (Vivo)
A2 Unit 6: Further musical understanding
Poulenc - Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone
AS Unit 3: Developing musical understanding
©Copyright Rachel Leach London 2014
London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
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The London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s finest orchestras, balancing a long
and distinguished history with a reputation as one of the UK’s most adventurous and
forward-looking orchestras. It was founded in 1932 by Sir Thomas Beecham, and since then
they have been headed by many great names in the conducting world. Its current Principal
Conductor is Vladimir Jurowski, and its Composer in Residence is Magnus Lindberg.
The Orchestra regularly record for film – so it’s very likely you and your class have already
heard them. Amongst many soundtracks they have recorded are:
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The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Iron Man 3
The LPO are also resident at Southbank Centre, where they perform many concerts all year
round, as well as having a residency at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the summer. It works
with internationally renowned conductors, instrumentalists and singers and regularly tours
abroad. In 2014/15 they’ll be visiting Turkey, Iceland, USA, Canada, China and Australia.
The LPO Education and Community department maintains an energetic programme for
young people and families. Our BrightSparks schools’ concert series provides orchestral
experiences for school children from Key Stage 1 all the way up to A Level, providing live
analysis of set works at Key Stages 4 and 5. FUNharmonics family days provide interactive
concerts and music-making experiences for the whole family at the Royal Festival Hall. Other
projects work with SEN schools, with GCSE students on composition projects, and with
young people in contexts such as Animate Orchestra and The Band. The department also
caters for young professionals – the Young Composers and Foyle Future First schemes look
to support young players and composers at the start of their careers.
The LPO is proud to be a member of the South Riverside Music Partnership (SRMP) which
comprises the LPO, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and the Music Hubs of
Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Greenwich. For more information about the London
Philharmonic Orchestra, please visit our website at www.lpo.org.uk.
©Copyright Rachel Leach London 2014
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)
Igor Stravinsky was born in St Petersburg in 1882
into a musical family. His father was a bass singer
with the Imperial Opera but despite this it was
expected that young Igor would take up a career in
law and his musical tuition as a boy was patchy as a
result.
In 1902 Stravinsky met the great Russian composer
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who at that time was one
of the most important figures in Russian music. He
took an interest in Stravinsky’s early compositions and encouraged him to take music more
seriously. When Stravinsky’s father died, Igor quit his law course and began studying music
full time with the aim of becoming a composer
Stravinsky’s first success, a tiny piece called Fireworks, was heard by the Russian impresario
Sergei Diaghilev who invited Stravinsky into write for his ballet company in Paris
Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes
Diaghilev lived in Paris and had formed a ballet troupe called Ballet
Russes the aims of which were to bring the best of Russian ballet the best dancers, musicians and designers - to the sophisticated
Parisian audience. Stravinsky was a very Russian sounding composer
but was also very daring and new – this was perfect for Diaghilev’s
vision and so he commissioned him to write a ballet. The result was
The Firebird of 1911.
This ballet was an overnight hit and the new artistic partnership of
Stravinsky and Diaghilev followed it with the equally impressive
Petrushka and then the riotous The Rite of Spring. After Rite he was the most talked about
composer in the world and very much in demand.
The effect of World War I
After the Great War and the Russian Revolution Europe was in turmoil. Many of the artistic
institutions of Paris had shut down and those still in existence certainly no longer had the
resources to stage lavish productions. Diaghilev looked at other ways of creating new work
and came up with an idea for using Baroque music thought to be by the Italian superstar
composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. He wanted to create a small ballet based on an 18th
century commedia dell’arte story and using stock comedic characters dancing in masks.
Diaghilev asked Stravinsky who had suffered a loss of income during the war, to make the
adaptations. To further tempt him he put in place an exciting team of collaborators including
Pablo Picasso as set designer. Stravinsky couldn’t refuse but he was keen to put his unique
stamp on the music rather than just orchestrate it for a new audience. In doing so he
created his first Neoclassical masterwork.
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Neoclassicism
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A 20th-century trend within music popular between the two world wars.
An attempt by modern composers to return to the ‘simpler’ sound of music from the
18th centuries as a response to what they considered to be excess within music of the
late 19th century.
Stravinsky’s Pulcinella is a re-working of actual music from the 18th century with a
20th-century twist.
Poulenc’s Sonata is a 20th-century piece twisted to sound like it is from the earlier
period.
In many cases it would be more accurate to call the music ‘Neo-Baroque’
For a great compare and contrast exercise look at the orchestra size, length and structure
of the following –
18th-century ‘perfection’ - Mozart Symphony No 40 mvt 1
19th-century ‘excess’ Mahler Symphony No 2 mvt 1
20th-century ‘neoclassical’ - Prokofiev Symphony No 1 mvt 1
Mahler’s 2nd Symphony and another late symphony by Mozart – No.36 – are both being
performed by the LPO this season. These may of interest to you and your students within
the A level course - please see p.20 for further details.
©Copyright Rachel Leach London 2014
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
Pulcinella
The ballet and the Suite
Pulcinella began life as a one-act ballet in
1920. Stravinsky re-worked music from the
1700s (now known to be by a variety of
composers including but not restricted to
Pergolesi) and told a comic story of lost love,
disguise, faked murder and revenge. The story
was so ridiculous with a convoluted plot,
unlikely drama and 21 disjointed scenes that
it wasn’t instantly successful so Stravinsky
took his favourite 8 scenes and created a
suite for orchestra in 1924. This version is now
one of Stravinsky’s most popular works.
Pulcinella with Pimpinella, Ballet Capitole
Stravinsky used a small ‘Haydn’-sized orchestra of double winds (no clarinets), two horns,
one trumpet and one trombone, and arranged his strings like a baroque Concerto Grosso
with small soloist group – Concertino (two violins, viola, cello, bass) and Ripieno (larger,
fuller string orchestra.) so the piece instantly looked and sounded from the older period
The following movements from the suite are on the Edexcel A2 syllabus:
Mvt 1 Sinfonia (Overture)
Mvt 6 Gavotta
Mvt 7 Vivo
Mvt 1 Sinfonia
Source material – Domenico Gallo: Trio Sonata No. 1 in G Major
Scored originally for two violins, cello and continuo (harpsichord, bass)
Differences between Stravinsky and Gallo
Stravinsky keeps Gallo’s violin and cello parts and assigns to the same instruments. Gallo’s
2nd violin part and continuo are fleshed out considerably.
Structure
Rounded Binary Form
(material from A section returns undeveloped and without modulation)
Texture
Melody Dominated Homophony
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
Section A
bars 1 – 15
Bars 1 – 4
First theme in tonic (G), modulates to dominant (D)
Added notes enrich the harmony at first cadence. Open strings, 5 th and
octaves, low oboe create a rustic sound.
Bars 7 - 9
New countermelodies on bassoon, violin 2 and cello. Polyphonic texture
Bars 10 – 13
Big change to the cadence - added beat (from 2/4, 3/4 change of metre)
Section B
bars 16 – end
Begins in dominant key, travels through a wider range of keys before returning home
Bar 18
Added bar between phrases of melody. Stravinsky uses Gallo’s little cadential
figure again.
Bars 21 – 23
Downward sequence
Bars 24 – 26
Circle of 5ths (Gallo) blurred by descending countermelody on violin 1
(Stravinsky).
Creates dissonances
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
Bars 29 – 30
Good example of 3 part texture, similar to the original
Bar 33
Return to opening (A section material). Anacrusis left off – theme ‘sneaks’ in
on horn and bassoon is then repeated tutti
Bars 37 – 40
Good example of melody-dominated homophony and Stravinsky’s expansion
of the continuo
Mvt 6 Gavotta
Source material – Carlo Monza: Keyboard Suite in D, Mvt 4 Gavotta & 6 doubles
Scored originally for solo harpsichord
(double means the same as ‘variation’)
Differences between Stravinsky and Monza
Instrumentation - Stravinsky uses just wind and brass for this movement and fleshes out
Monza’s solo keyboard writing. Stravinsky borrows from Monza’s theme, variation 1 and 4
for his theme and 2 variations.
Structure
Texture
Binary Form, Theme and Variations
Melody Dominated Homophony
Gavotta
Section A
Bars 1 – 10
Just oboes, bassoons, horns
New material invented for 2nd oboe, 1st bassoon, horns
Begins in Tonic (D) modulates to Dominant (A)
A section repeats
Gavotta
Section B
bars 1 – 10
bars 11 – 32
Begins in subdominant key (G), travels through a wider range of keys before returning home
Bar 15
Downward glissandi in bassoons (sounds like sighing)
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
Bar 19
Thicker texture from 3rds, 6ths matches Monza’s use of chords
Bar 24
Weakened cadences. Embellishments written out
Variation 1 Section A
bars 33 – 42
A gigue in 6/8
New countermelody on 1st horn
A section repeats
Variation 1 Section B
bars 43 – 64
Bars 43 – 46
Alternating tonic and subdominant chords with added tonic pedal throughout
causes clashes
Bar 47 – 50
repeats in sequence
Variation 2 Section A
bars 65 – 72
The same material covered in less bars due to new time signature Alberti bass
accompaniment throughout adapted from Monza’s keyboard version, now on bassoon with
challenging leaps.
A section repeats
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
Variation 2 Section B
bars 73 - end
Bars 72
Octave displacement of melody
Rushing upwards scales between notes of melody (‘tirades’)
Bar 77
New countermelody on flute leads to dissonance
Bar 79
Chain of consecutive 5ths
B section repeats with…
Bar 80 – 82
Bizarre return to beginning of section which includes an overlap of melodies
Mvt 7 Vivo
Source material – Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: Sinfonia a 3 in F major Mvt 4
Scored originally for cello, bass and continuo
Differences between Stravinsky and Pergolesi
Stravinsky keeps Pergolesi’s melody intact but gives it to solo bass until bar 62 when it is
shared between bass and trombone. Pergolesi’s bassline is given to the orchestra.
Structure
Texture
Rounded Binary Form
Melody Dominated Homophony
Section A
bars 1 – 21
In F major without modulation
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
False start
bars 21 – 24
Return to opening material for 3rd time, in home key
Upward scale to high C takes melody to dominant key and B section
Accompaniment remains in Tonic key
Section B
bars 25 – end
Bar 30
Over-emphasis of harmony with thick chords
Bar 33
Over-emphasis of cadence with quaver rest (causes syncopation), full
orchestral chords (the only time the full orchestra is used), and added pitches
(G in D7)
Bar 38 – 45
Octave from bar 6 doubled 3 octaves higher on flute, slight variation of
rhythm causes ‘blurred’ sound. Heterophonic texture
Bar 46
Parallel minor key (Pergolesi trait), high bass and syncopation causes bluesy
sound
Blurred harmony of cellos and basses
Bar 53
Material from A section returns, minus middle section
Bar 54 – end Weakened cadences – no dominant note at bar 60, final cadence is III - I
©Copyright Rachel Leach London 2014
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963)
Francis Poulenc was born in Paris in 1899 into an
extremely wealthy family. Poulenc’s father ran a hugely
successful chemical company and Poulenc’s mother
was an amateur pianist. Realising young Poulenc was
gifted he was sent to a piano teacher who happened to
be an expert in the piano music of Claude Debussy and
Maurice Ravel, so those were Poulenc’s first musical
icons.
As a teenager, Poulenc began writing music and quickly came to the attention of Stravinsky.
It was 1917, Stravinsky was one of Europe’s most famous composers at that time after the
success of his three Parisian ballets. Stravinsky was so impressed with Poulenc’s work that
he got him his first publishing contract and became another mentor.
Erik Satie and Les Six
As a young man Poulenc spent time in the Montparnasse district of Paris drinking in café
bars with a range of young up and coming artists from all genres. People like Picasso, Jean
Cocteau and crucially Erik Satie. Eventually Poulenc and five like-minded young composers
joined together under the name Les Six.
To get a taste for the eclectic Parisian music scene Poulenc inhabited listen to the
following –
Debussy: La mer
a great impressionist masterpiece but perhaps too overblown for Les
Six
Ravel: La Valse
the master orchestrator with a masterpiece but perhaps too serious
for Les Six
Satie: Gymnopédies & Gnossiennes
the ever-popular tiny piano pieces worshipped by Les Six.
Debussy’s La mer and some related Ravel are both being performed by the LPO this season. Please
see p.20 for further details.
Les Six - Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur
Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Germaine Tailleferre and
Poulenc - would get together and have heated
artistic discussions. They vowed to write music that
was simple, direct, tuneful but also witty,
unexpected and occasionally silly, as a reaction to
the over-powering enormity of composers like
Wagner and Tchaikovsky – similar thinking to the
ideals of neo-classicism.
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone
Poulenc’s Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone was written in 1922. It was written
alongside similar short trios for other wind instruments. It is made up of three movements,
the first of which features on the Edexcel AS syllabus.
NB: The misleading title - although the title is ‘Sonata, for Horn Trumpet and Trombone’, the
piece isn’t in sonata form with the classical exposition-development-recap meaning. Poulenc
is using the word sonata to simply mean ‘piece’ or ‘work’ and this is his first nod to the past.
Poulenc’s piece is neoclassical but in contrast to Stravinsky’s it features all new material
rather than a re-working of music from the past. Poulenc then subverts his ideas for comedic
effect rather than reverence to a bygone age
Significant Features
Structure
Texture
Ternary Form
Melody Dominated Homophony (the trumpet has most of the melodic
material)
Section A
bars 1 – 25
Bars 1 – 4
Simple, diatonic melody with expected chords
Begins G major, cadences I – V – I
But
Over-emphasis of triad (G major) and cadence plus added notes in the final
chords to create discords show us we’re firmly in the 20 th century.
Bars 9 – 17
Over-emphasis of parallel 6ths (for 9 bars), changing metre, syncopation
Bar 22 – 26
Over-emphasised cadence with rhythmic augmentation, unusual placement
of motifs within the bar. Ends in G minor.
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
Section B
bars 26 - 57
Bars 26 – 35
Everything is different – slower, smoother, quieter than section A
Bars 36 – 39
Tiny, dramatic climax, large leaps on trumpet
Bar 40 – 47
Opening tune on horn, staccato with ‘um-pah’ accompaniment
Bar 48 – 56
Transition back to home key and A section
Section A
bars 58 – 85
Bars 58 – 65
Exactly the same as bars 1 – 8
Bars 66 – 73
Development of idea from bar 48 (B section developed within A section
repeat)
Bars 73 – 83
Repeat of bars 9 – 17, reorchestrated and transposed
Coda
bars 86 – end
Odd, comical ending
Bb pedal chromatic scale, over-emphasised triad (borrowed from bar 1)
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
Ideas for Creative Work in the Classroom
Creative composition tasks based on some of the features of these pieces and Neoclassicism
in general may help your students to understand the genre from a hands-on point of view.
Here are some suggestions for creative work that can be undertaken either in groups or
individually.
1. The Asymmetrical (wonky) Processional March
Stravinsky’s Sinfonia at the opening of Pulcinella is essentially a processional march and as
such it should be firmly within 2/4 or 4/4. However, that extra beat Stravinsky inserts at bar
12 throws everything, pulls the piece up to date and prevents it from being predictable.
Challenge your students to create their own march using an unpredictable pattern of beats.
To be a proper (Classical period) march it should have the following characteristics –
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‘Um pah’ bassline – using tonic and dominant notes from each chord
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Clear, predictable diatonic melody with balanced phrases
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Begin and end in the Tonic key (it could travel to the dominant at some point)
When this is made, ask your students to bring it into the 21st century by –
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Adding (or subtracting) at least one beat to upset the ‘um pah’ bassline
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Adding ‘wrong’ notes to the harmony to create discords
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Knocking the balance of the melody
If this is successful, set them the task of creating any genre of music with an uneven metre
©Copyright Rachel Leach London 2014
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
2. Theme and Variations
Movement 6 of Pulcinella is a theme with 2 variations based on an older theme with 6
variations. Theme and variations as a form is an excellent way of demonstrating a lot of
musical knowledge in a fun, hands-on way.
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Decide on a theme that everyone can play. It can be anything from anywhere, any
genre, any instrumentation, or it can be the very material Stravinsky works with here.
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(Movement 2 of Pulcinella also features an excellent tune for manipulation)
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Create a class, group or individual version of your chosen theme, as simple and
straightforward as possible.
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Challenge your students to create variations upon the theme. Here are some classic
devices that composers use for their manipulations:
a) Change the metre/key/mood/instrumentation/accompaniment/
harmonisation/structure
b) Experiment with playing the melody backwards
c) Make an ostinato from one bar of the melody and create new material
around it
d) Go abstract!
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
3. Make new sound old, make old sound new
Broadly speaking there are two forms of Neoclassicism. Stravinsky makes the old sound new
by adding a 20th century twist to works from two centuries before. He does this by 1.
2.
3.
4.
Adding ‘wrong’ notes to chord progressions
Weakening cadences
Fleshing out accompaniments
Adding syncopation and uneven metre
Poulenc writes a new work and makes it sound old by:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Writing an overly simple diatonic tune with expected diatonic harmony
Writing balanced phrases with very obvious, clear cadences
Sticking to clear melody-dominated homophonic texture
Over-emphasising the home key
Stravinsky is blurring the features of the past, Poulenc is over-emphasising them. Set your
students the task of either re-working an old melody from 18th century by adding new
features or adapting a new melody by adding period features. Again the source material can
be from anywhere, any genre etc. Aspiring composers may wish to create their own melody
and write an 18th century version and a 20th century one.
©Copyright Rachel Leach London 2014
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
Dates
Below is a list of dates for LPO concerts that include many of the pieces of music and
composers that have been listed or referenced in this pack. If you would like to bring your
students to one of these evening concerts, please contact our Box Office on 020 7840 4242,
or for group bookings (for groups 10+) 020 7840 4205.
Saturday 1st November
Royal Festival Hall, 7.30pm
Mahler: Symphony No.2
Wednesday 12th November
Royal Festival Hall, 7.30pm
Poulenc: Concerto for two pianos and orchestra
Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole
Debussy: La mer
Saturday 6th December
Royal Festival Hall, 7.30pm
Stravinsky: Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920 version)
Stravinsky: Orpheus
Saturday 21st March
Royal Festival Hall, 7.30pm
Stravinsky: Petrushka (1911 version)
Wednesday 25th March
Royal Festival Hall, 7.30pm
Mozart: Symphony No.36
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London Philharmonic Orchestra A level Resources
Thank You
We hope this pack will give you some suggestions to enhance A level provision in your
school. For further ideas, don’t forget that the LPO’s BrightSparks series of schools concerts
runs annually at the Royal Festival Hall, with specific concerts for Key Stage 3 and GCSE, and
associated teacher INSET sessions. You can find out more on our website:
http://www.lpo.org.uk/education/lpo-education.html.
Do feel free to get in touch at any time about our work here at the LPO, or if you’d like any
future guidance for musical work in the classroom. We’d love to hear about your school’s
future musical activities!
Isabella Kernot, Education and Community Director
[email protected]
Alexandra Clarke, Education and Community Project Manager [email protected]
©Copyright Rachel Leach London 2014